Born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, on November 5th, 1959, Bryan Guy Adams spent a lot of time traveling with his parents. His father was not only in the Canadian Army, but he also worked for the United Nations and as a Canadian diplomat.
As a teenager, Bryan worked as a dishwasher to pay for a decent guitar. At fifteen, he was the lead singer for the group Sweeny Todd.
Bryan met drummer Jim Vallance in 1978 and the two formed a partnership that goes on today. His self-titled debut album was released in 1980, but it wasn’t until 1983 that Bryan would crack the U.S. charts with “Straight From The Heart” from his third album.
On the charts, Bryan has made it to Billboard’s Top 40 charts over twenty times and he went to number one four times. Here’s a look at Bryan Adams twenty biggest hits, according to Billboard’s Top 40 charts.
1. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You – 1991 – Bryan’s biggest single went to number one for seven weeks and was from the film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”
2. Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman? – 1995 – More movie music; this one from the film “Don Juan Demarco” and the single was on top for five weeks.
3. All For Love – 1993 – From the original movie soundtrack for “The Three Musketeers” this single also featured Rod Stewart and Sting.
4. Heaven – 1985 – Bryan’s first number one single was written while he was the opening act for Journey. Featured on the “Night In Heaven” soundtrack, it was also included on Bryan’s album “Reckless.”
5. Can’t Stop This Thing We Started – 1991 – From the “Waking Up The Neighbours” album, this song received two Grammy nominations.
6. Summer of ’69 – 1985 – The controversial fourth single from the “Reckless” album has had Bryan admitting that the title is about sex and he’s also been quoted as saying that it is about nostalgia and the year 1969.
7. Run To You – 1985 – Bryan and co-writer, Jim Vallance, originally wrote this song for Blue Oyster Cult, who turned it down.
8. Heat of the Night – 1987 – From the album “Into The Fire,” the song was inspired from the Orson Welles movie, “The Third Man.
9. Please Forgive Me – 1993 – This song was released as a bonus track on Byran’s greatest hits compilation, “So Far So Good.
10. I Finally Found Someone – 1996 – From the film soundtrack, “The Mirror Has Two Faces,” Bryan teams up with film star, Barbra Streisand on this single, which is also, to date, Bryan’s last top ten U.S. single.
11. Straight From The Heart – 1983 – Written when Bryan was eighteen, it was first released by Ian Lloyd and later covered by Bonnie Tyler, before Bryan released it as his first top ten single.
12. Somebody – 1985 – Arguably, one of the most recognizable songs of Bryan’s career, it also came from the “Reckless” album.
13. Do I Have To Say The Words? – 1992 – The fifth single released from the “Waking Up The Neighbours” album.
14. One Night Love Affair –1985 – A song about a “one night stand,” this is the fifth single cut from the “Reckless” album.
15. Thought I Died And Gone To Heaven – 1992 – Although this song only went to #13 on the charts in the U.S., it went to number one for Bryan in Canada.
16. It’s Only Love – 1985 – The sixth and final single from the album “Reckless”, this time Bryan teams up with music legend Tina Turner.
17. Cuts Like A Knife – 1983 – From Bryan’s third album of the same title.
18. This Time – 1983 – Also from the “Cuts Like A Knife” album.
19. Let’s Make A Night To Remember – 1996 – The third single from the “18 Til I Die” album.
20. Hearts On Fire – Written in 1984, this song wasn’t recorded until 1986 for the “Into The Fire” album.
Bryan’s personal life is set on high privacy. He is unmarried, but he recently had a daughter, Mirabella Bunny, born in 2011, with trustee and co-founder of his foundation, Alicia Grimaldi.
In addition to being a singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer and actor (he made a cameo appearance in the film “Pink Cadillac”), Bryan is also an accomplished and award winning photographer.
His musical awards and nominations include 20 Juno Awards, 15 Grammy Award nominations, several Golden Globe Nominations and he received three Academy Award nominations.
A social activist, Bryan has brought attention to many charities, through concerts, over the past thirty years, including Live Aid and Amnesty International, as well as his own Waking Up The World Tour in 1991.
Bryan Adams announced in 2012 that he would be touring across Canada to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of his Waking Up The World Tour, along with a new studio album to be released.
SOURCES: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Adams_discography
The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits – Joel Whitburn – Billboard Publications
